On a recent Wednesday he was on call at each location, starting his workday with a repair at Mediterranean-style pizza place Domenic’s Bistro & Wine Bar before setting up live entertainment at Italian-style pizza place Vincent’s Heavenly Pies & Pasta. Later, he'd lead a staff meeting at his Neapolitan-style pizza place, Otto Pint.

“You really have to have a passion for pizza to make it in this business,” said Tessari, who named Domenic’s after his oldest son, Vincent’s after the his youngest son's middle name, and Otto Pint after the favorite stuffed animal of that second son, Michael.

“If you think you can just throw something on a pizza dough and call it a pizza, you are probably in the wrong business.”

If pizza is America’s favorite food, Fort Collins' restaurant scene offers plenty of proof, with more than 40 pizza joints in city limits.

Otto Pint, Grimaldi’s Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria at the Foothills Mall, and The Loafing Shed at Jessup Farm Artisan Village have all opened this year, each specializing in a different type of pizza. So did The Rollin’ Stone, a wood-fired pizza food truck that sets up at Northern Colorado breweries and events.

Ten pizza operations have opened in Fort Collins since 2014. And there are more on the way.

Mod Pizza is finishing construction at 1013 Centre Ave., with the fast-casual franchise expected to open next month. Midwest-based Toppers Pizza is starting its Colorado franchise expansion in Fort Collins at 1501 W. Elizabeth St. — scheduled to open before the end of the year — and has a letter of intent signed for a second site on Harmony Road. MidiCi Neapolitan Pizza is scheduled to open next year as part of a Harmony Commons development.

Delivery orders are so busy for Krazy Karl’s Pizza that the popular Campus West pizzeria is opening a second location in the Rigden Farm development on the other side of town.

Neighboring Loveland has 20 pizzerias of its own, including three that opened this year.

“There’s so many different ways you can do pizza that people can have it several nights a week and not get sick of it,” said Todd Geatches, the Toppers Pizza franchisee.

Earlier in Geatches' career, he was a Papa John’s franchisee. After a lengthy stint with Taco John’s, he’s back in the pizza game.

And there’s plenty more variety to compete with this time around.

Fort Collins has the usual national pizza chains, along with a pair of pizza restaurants that were featured on the Food Network: Restaurant 415 for its unique toppings on Guy Fieri’s Diners Dives and Drive Ins and Pizza Casbah for its 30-inch pizza challenge on Outrageous Foods.

Beau Jo’s, which opened its current Old Town location in 2014, promotes its thick crust as Colorado-style pizza. Other establishments champion their thin crust, New York-style and Neapolitan pies.

While most places only offer whole pies, Slyce Pizza Co. does the majority of its business by the slice.

“Pizza is like art — It’s in the eye of the beholder,” said Russ Robinson, the Choice City Butcher & Deli founder who bought neighboring Uncles Pizzeria earlier this year.

Complicating the competition, plenty of the city's pizzerias are known for more than their pies.

Old Chicago was integral in the development of the local craft beer scene, with the deep dish chain among the first accounts for both Odell Brewing and New Belgium Brewing, among other Northern Colorado craft breweries.